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lack teeth and teeth meanings

EU rules limit debt to 60 percent of GDP and deficits to 3 percent, but those rules turned out to lack teeth and several countries - including France and Germany - have broken them without being penalised.
The question now is how to give those rules more teeth.

Re: lack teeth and teeth meanings

Originally Posted by anhnha

EU rules limit debt to 60 percent of GDP and deficits to 3 percent, but those rules turned out to lack teeth and several countries - including France and Germany - have broken them without being penalised.
The question now is how to give those rules more teeth.

Could you tell me what do "lack teeth" and "teeth" in above sentences mean?

Understand it this way - "teeth" refers to rules which can be, and are, enforced. If a law lacks teeth, that law is not a law which some authority can force someone to follow. For example, there is a new law where I live. Everyone who lives in an area that is not serviced by a city of town fire department is required to pay a small tax to the state. This tax is for fire fighting services. There is no mention in the law of what happens if someone fails to pay the tax. This law, it can be said, has no teeth.

Re: lack teeth and teeth meanings

Originally Posted by Gillnetter

Understand it this way - "teeth" refers to rules which can be, and are, enforced. If a law lacks teeth, that law is not a law which some authority can force someone to follow. For example, there is a new law where I live. Everyone who lives in an area that is not serviced by a city of town fire department is required to pay a small tax to the state. This tax is for fire fighting services. There is no mention in the law of what happens if someone fails to pay the tax. This law, it can be said, has no teeth.

However, governments and companies may then decide to take action to prevent another crisis. Flagging potential bubbles early on - before they end in a catastrophic bust - may be useful, "even if there's no real enforcement," says Marzinotto."